


The Child Who Ran Away

by Im_The_Doctor (Bofur1)



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst and Feels, Classic Who meets New Who, Fields of Trenzalore, First Doctor Era, Past Relationship(s), Running Away, Suspense, The first question
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-25
Updated: 2014-07-25
Packaged: 2018-02-10 08:20:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2017764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bofur1/pseuds/Im_The_Doctor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Silence fell when the question was asked, but Clara Oswald was there, still doggedly trying to save The Doctor from it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Child Who Ran Away

He may fancy himself a grumpy old man, _others_ may fancy him a grumpy old man, The Doctor thought to himself, but he wasn’t really.

“You’re too young to travel space and time,” the other Time Lords had declared.

“Why show it to eight-year-old children then? Just to get their hopes up?” he had responded stridently, stumping them at their own mind games. He may have dragged his grade at the Gallifreyan Academy through mud, but he was undoubtedly one of the smartest Time Lords on the planet. They could have known if they had paid attention to his time at the Untempered Schism, his response to the great Vastness. They had all seen him run away and had dismissed it as fear.

Oh, no. It had never, _ever_ been fear, at least not fear of the Vortex. He had a personal relationship with the Time. The only thing that wide-blue-eyed, pale-faced child was afraid of was that they would discover his secret, the Secret he had with a Time, _the_ Time, _his_ Time.

But in order to run away, he’d needed a getaway vessel—a TARDIS, _the_ TARDIS, _his_ TARDIS. And an accomplice—his youngest grandchild, the only one who could keep a secret. She could keep many, but even she didn’t know _his_ Secret.

His grandchild was on Earth attending school when the Untempered Schism showed it to him. It turned out he hadn’t known his Secret as well as he’d thought. The Doctor had closed his eyes and punched a set of coordinates at random. It was a dangerous thing to do, but he was a dangerous man, young and prideful and hungry for the worlds he had been promised as part of his Secret.

The TARDIS had howled and shuddered, wracked as she’d never been before, making The Doctor wonder exactly what coordinates he had set. His TARDIS had stopped in midair and he had frowned in puzzlement and turned off the anti-gravity, another dangerous thing to do.

After landing with a bone-jolting crash, The Doctor staggered to his feet and crept cautiously toward the door. He tsked worriedly when he saw the crack in the window panel of his police box and made a mental note to replace the glass. He pulled on the handle—

_“Oh, my giddy aunt!” “Reverse the polarity.” “Jelly baby?” “Sorry, must dash!” “Intolerant...Intolerant? **Intolerant**?!” “The more I know me, the less I like me.” “I held back death. Look, I can't make your dream come true forever, but I can make it come true today!” “Everything has its time and everything dies.” “Oh, I’ve lived too long.” “I’m saying it’s **the** TARDIS, **my** TARDIS from the future. What else would they bury me in?”_

Slamming the door, The Doctor whirled with wide blue eyes and pale face, just a child, and he saw another standing in front of him.

“Wha—?” he gasped, moving backward until he was pressed against the inside of the door. “How did you get in here?”

“Where is here?” she asked breathlessly, looking just as startled as he was. “I don’t know where I am. It’s like I’m breaking into a million pieces and there’s only one thing that can happen. I have to save The Doctor.”

The Doctor’s hearts clenched. “Save me...from what? From whom?”

“Who,” she corrected almost inaudibly. He didn’t even have time to argue his rightness before the girl raised her eyebrows and asked, “Doctor Who?”

He was caught off guard, vulnerable, afraid—afraid his Secret would be found out by someone, by himself. The Doctor closed his eyes.

It was gone. He was standing with his back to the TARDIS doors, weak in the knees for some reason he couldn’t remember. He was alone. Alone with the silence.

_Silence will fall when the question is asked._


End file.
